Gillispie Comments On SEC Teleconference

Posted: Mon 3:31 PM, Jul 16, 2007&nbsp|&nbsp

Updated: Mon 10:18 PM, Jul 16, 2007

Looking at the roster, how do you plan to play in terms of style…?

“I don’t know enough about it yet, because you can’t watch them play in the summer. I didn’t have much time with them in the April period. I would think that this will probably be one of the smaller teams that we’ll have, as far as physical size and those kinds of things. I’m excited at how thick they are. I think they are very, very athletic. I think that they are strong, and that they’ve been well versed. There are a whole lot of other things that we want to do as far as playing style. I really feel that players always determine how you play. I don’t know that it will be a conventional type team for me. I’m always used to having two big, strong post players out there with three guards on the perimeter. We may play more four-guard lineups; I just have no idea right now. They’ll determine that after we start practicing. I’m sorry I’m not giving you a great answer on that, I just don’t know right now.”

On the expectations of Patrick Patterson…

“There are high expectations (for Patrick) as there is for all of the players, but I think he’s a very mature player and maybe more so than most freshmen up until this point. He’s just impressed me with the way he lives every day life, and in the classroom this summer and those kinds of things. I think that he may be able to shoulder a bit more of a burden than say a normal freshman. Again, that is yet to be determined because he is a freshman. Hopefully, we’re going to have great senior leadership in Ramel Bradley and Joe Crawford those will be our only two seniors. We have several guys returning; even then we are going to be a very, very young team made up of a lot of sophomores and freshmen. Going back to Patrick, I do think that he has the ability to maybe lead early in his career starting this year. We’ll have some other help for him.”

On Jared Carter’s status…

“He’s just rehabbing right now. He rehabbed his shoulder for about six months. He came back after he was cleared, and went out and played in the pick-up game and about five minutes into it he messed his shoulder up again. He just had surgery; it’s been just about three weeks ago. He’s recovering nicely but I don’t know exactly what the timetable is for his return.”

On his review of recruiting thus far…

“I think that we are still recruiting, not only for the future but also for right now. I think that everybody is always recruiting. So, I don’t think we are any different than anybody else. I think that it has gone okay. We’ve created a little bit of a buzz. I think that is important. I think that we’ve been able to address needs for this upcoming team as well as for the future. I think that it has gone fine.”

On what he is doing to prepare for the year ahead outside of recruiting…

“Anytime that you are in transition and anytime you take on a new situation, no matter how good the situation is you’ve come into there are just so many things that you have to put together. You have to put a staff together. You have to recruit. You have to get to know your players. You have to find a place to live. There are just a million things. It’s an enormous task that you have when you change jobs because there are so many tasks to perform and before you know it school will be starting again. We have a six day break here in the recruiting and a million things to do before we get back out on the road for the last 10 days. It seems like there is some down time, but there really isn’t any down time. There’s not any down time when you don’t change jobs, and when you do change jobs it’s just an enormous task. I don’t know how other people feel, but it really takes about a year and a half before you ever feel any kind of comfort at all.”

On the process of getting a staff together…

“We’re working on it. We extended ourselves to the end of the NBA Draft, with consideration of a potential assistant coach and that didn’t happen. He received a great situation with the NBA. So, we have to refocus. We definitely have plenty of alternatives, but we haven’t made any final decisions yet. I think it will happen in the near future.”

On how obtaining commitments can aide in creating a positive buzz for the program…

“We didn’t go out to try and create a buzz. We went out to perform tasks that are going to help our basketball program. Sometimes a byproduct of that, if things go well, then maybe a little bit of a buzz is created. That’s the way it goes. I think you can gain momentum when you’re out recruiting. I think you can create game momentum by recruiting specific players because a lot of guys are able to recognize those players and a lot of times the other guys want to play with them. I do think that what we’ve been able to do that so far, that has not been the objective, the objective is to get players that can help our basketball program and I do think that the byproduct has created somewhat of a buzz.”

On early commitments, including some as young as the eighth grade…

“I think one of the reasons people are able to make commitments and able to make judgments on players sooner is because they (the players) play so much. They probably didn’t even play quite as much five years ago. There’s also probably a lot more information about players than there ever has been in the history of basketball. I think you have to start recruiting players at a very, very early age. A lot of those players want to make decisions real early to a particular university. As far as the downside, I do think probably the younger the player the greater the risk. I don’t think you’d put yourself in a position if you thought it was a risky proposition. I’m talking about either a school or a player. I do think that before physical maturity can take place I think the longer out they are the greater the risk.”

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